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Turning a Good Idea into a Reality

Peter Knapp, Global Creative Officer of Landor Associates talks about what inspires him, the secret of turning a good idea into a reality, and his choice of topic to discuss at 'Inspiration - Think Again'.

Peter Knapp, Global Creative Officer, Landor Associates

Peter Knapp, Global Creative Officer, Landor Associates talks about what inspires him, the secret of turning a good idea into reality, and his choice of topic to discuss at ’Inspiration - Think Again’ on the 23rd of October at The Royal Geographical Society, London.

Please introduce yourself.

Hi. I’m Peter Knapp, Global Creative Director here at Landor, based in London. Landor is a world-wide company with offices all around the world. We are a branding consultancy, who come up with cross-channel solutions for the difficult business commercial world that we live in.

Where does inspiration come from for you?

I try to look up for inspiration. I suppose by that what I mean is the possibility of the future. NASA inspires me. I follow the Mars Rover on Twitter. I just find it incredible to see landscapes of Mars beamed back through your phone. I find the Hubble Telescope inspiring, just generally thinking what is up there and out there. The enormity of things is what I find inspiring.

What do you do when you have an idea?

What do I do? What do I do when we get the idea. I think the first thing is relax. It’s such a pressure and a strain to find a good idea. The world is full of ideas, but I think there are few and far between that one would really call good. That’s the pressure of it. It’s like looking for hen’s teeth or sifting for gold. When you get it you are so pleased, so joyously pleased that that’s the bit when you can afford yourself 5 or 10 minutes relaxation before the project then starts.

How to you take an idea from conception into reality?

The secret of turning a good idea into a reality is twofold. One, I think, is to communicate it really clearly, so people know exactly what you’re talking about. The other, candidly, is to work with a great team. I’m lucky. I work with a really great team, fantastic designers, fantastic creatives, brilliant strategists, really effective client services people. I think to be clear and surround yourself with great talent is the way ahead.

What is an idea that you’ve had from conception to delivery?

I’d probably pick a very recent example. In fact, it launched just a few days ago. We have been authoring the brand of Etihad, the Abu Dhabi airline. Etihad represents the fascination and the developing of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi, I think, is going to be a really fascinating destination. They’re doing things in a very unusual, very unique way. Etihad had to represent this in some way, be true to its roots and its heritage and its region, but also talk about the place of its origin, Abu Dhabi. The idea was all centred around Etihad being remarkable, creating things that forced opinion, forced reaction and weren’t just average or normal or nice.

To come up with things that really did make people stand back in admiration and engage. It’s a pretty bland old world out there at times. I think we wanted to make something special that really did engage with its audience. I think the idea of remarkable will do that.

We’re just beginning to see that now with the Etihad brand. The new livery launched recently. I think the reaction to it has been great. People have said it is remarkable. You start to see the brand living through the idea, which is great.

What are you going to talk about at Inspiration?

My inspiration talk, I think, is going to be about science fiction. Again, it’s all around the idea of what could happen. I think of some of the most remarkable minds who have projected into the future. The likes of Gene Roddenberry, Jerry Anderson, Stan Lee, people who have seen no barriers to what could be, who have had powerful imaginations and who have helped inspire the engineers and, to some degree, the politicians and the innovators of the world by the strength of their future projections. I find a lot of inspiration in science fiction in many different ways. That’s what the talk is going to be about and to show the value of science fiction and tomorrow, today.

Need Inspiration? See Peter Knapp and other fantastic speakers at Inspiration - Think Again at the Royal Geographical Society, London on the 23rd of October.

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